I'm going off coffee and sugar for the next four weeks. I'll be drinking green tea for the first week to avoid headaches and doing organic green smoothies with fruit. I will transition to herbal teas I grew in my garden and in the wild. I like hot teas in the winter time and also lots of vegetable soups. I like sage and oregano teas with marigold petals, I add horsetail fern and stinging nettles as well. I go off all animal products too. Raw Family I use this site for my green smoothie recipes. I've been using the green smoothie detox since 2008. It's amazing and after the first week I get a huge energy burst that stays consistent until next detox if I stay away from too much sugars and processed foods. I eat way to much sugar, that's my really bad habit. I detox 4 times a year, it's kind of like cleaning house.

I'll be updating once a week and would like some company while I detox.

I think I will also clean out my storage room too!

Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living

I hate to break this to you but there's a lot of sugar in processed (juiced with fiber removed) fruit. With the fiber the sugar is metabolized at a naturally and health rate, but you may not get that "huge energy burst" from processing it and removing the beneficial fiber.

Mike_009 wrote:Why don't you give off coffee and sugar for years and adapt green drink. I was addict of tea. Then one of my friend suggested me to use green drink and I am using it till today. It is a great alternative to tea.

The green smoothies I make are from my garden here in Oregon. Winter kale and collards with our summers canned Black Japanese tomatoes, some onions, garlic and kelp powder. A cup of greens and carrots and a quart of water, blend them up till smooth. I made canned wild applesauce and peaches this year, they make my sweet smoothies with collards and kale. Hardly cost any money and I grew them myself!

I will be off the green tea this Sunday and on a tea made with nettle, a fern called horse hair with sage and oregano that I grew in my gardens and down by our creek.

Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living

I like green smoothies, I go with: A big hunk of kale or spinach, maybe carrot, coconut cream or oil, avocado, small amount of some fruit, banana if I want something sweet. Avocado really makes them have a fantastic texture. I have never done a "detox" with them minus the fact that I got into drinking them because I was on an anti-inflammatory diet for a while via doctor's orders..where of course recipes for them are much more restrictive...if I recall, the basic recipe for them then was something like Kale + apple, or Kale + pear and not much else.

Dear Johnny Dangerous,Green smoothies are a fast easy way to get a lot of raw food in the belly. It's my lazy way of eating most of the time. Detox is so boring through, pretty much like your anti-inflammatory diet. I follow Dr Hyman's detox in a box. Nice little cards that take you step by step through detox. I've been doing this for so long now I don't need to follow Hyman's instructions. I've modified the instructions to suit my life style and needs. It was really helpful when I first started detoxing. He gives a lot of good advice and he is a Buddhist, I didn't know that when I first found him. I was working in Chicago and extremely fatigued and he had a check list that I went through and found out my thyroid was sick. Went to the doctors and they wanted to put me on medication without any diet. So I did the diet change without the medication and now my thyroid is all better (my hair grew back too) http://drhyman.com/blog/2012/11/15/deto ... nd-simple/

Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living

It's been a week since I started my detox, the roughest day was last Wednesday, I had a headache and was pretty emotional, that past quickly. I've shed 10lbs in water weight and that's why I couldn't get rid of that last 10lbs I gained my first year back in Oregon, that was 2 years ago! I don't know why the weight decided to go this detox round. I do 4 a year, oh well, sometimes the body has it's own mind. The next 3 weeks should be pretty easy. I fudged a bit today and had some dark chocolate my husband bought. I am not going to go back to drinking coffee. I have so much more energy when I don't drink that stuff. I will still eat some sugar but most of my sugar came from coffee so that will be cut way back just dropping my coffee addiction. Drinking herbal teas is going to be a tough transition too. I love green tea! I drank about 16 oz of coffee a day, that's about 2 cups, I still get up in the morning and want to make coffee. Habit routines are pretty easy to break. The physical craving has always been the hardest part for me.

Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living

I dug up some burdock root yesterday. I made fresh burdock tea and will roast the remaining root that I shredded for tea as well. The tea has a lovely cooling property that calms, and brings a nice wakeful feeling to my eyes without that jagged acidic wakeful feeling that coffee and tea brings. Last night before bed I had about 8 oz glass. Before going to sleep I do a little meditation trying to stay aware on the sensation of going to sleep, right up to the point where I disappear. I could feel a lovely cool wind like sensation throughout the body. It was very refreshing happy feeling. This is the first time I had the tea and harvested my patch, I planted burdock from seed 3 years ago. It's a beautiful large dark green leafed plant that is a lovely addition in my herb garden. I will post the recipe on my blog. I have already posted what the root looks like and how to prep the root for tea.

This week I feel very calm and cool and this is the low cycle of the month for my body. I usually feel a little grumpy and bloated this time of the month. I think it's because my body isn't so acidic. Grains, sugar, caffeine, meat, alcohol make the body very acidic. I read an acidic body makes one depressed, bloated, gain weight, promotes diseases and a host of other problems.

Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living

Heading into what I think is my 3rd week of detox, I am sure I started on the 12th, mixed up the date on my last post and I feel amazing. My holiday tummy has melted away and my energy is returning, I don't feel as grumpy and tired as I did a couple weeks ago. I made up my mind to stay off coffee and tea. The caffeine made my body feel as if it was full of jagged edges. I've been drinking coffee for years and quitting for my detox and I would start back up again. I don't know why I decided to stop for good, just feels like the right thing to do. Now I understand why we are asked not to drink caffeine during retreat. Big difference in free flow of subtle energies.

I am starting a to take 2 tablespoons of Calcium Bentonite Clay before bed on an empty tummy for my colon cleanse. You can look up the practice on the net. I won't give directions on how to take the clay here, I do have some links on my blog. Please research before trying, this said just as a precaution. I had no ill health from taking clay but you may have health issues and need to research.

Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living

Okay I totally lost track of time last week. But I don't think that was from detox. I do that sometimes especially if I paint/work on art a lot.

This weeks detox was like slogging through mud, but I had more consistent energy even though it was low. I felt brighter and happier. I can get pretty moody painting. I been working in the garden a couple hours a day without fatigue, no headaches, sleeping really well too. Mood swings---who needs moods? bye-bye!

Looking back pre-detox, coffee was really jacking me around and I didn't notice. I don't think I will go back on it. I tried a cup last Sunday with my husband who has been doing detox with me. We felt jittery, jagged energy through the body, and we couldn't go to sleep easily. My husband decided to drop coffee as well. For me losing that 10lbs of water weight was nice, it hasn't come back. It would be worth dropping coffee for good just to keep the weight off. But I feel so much calmer and of course my sugar intake has been cut by 3/4, I am sure that was part of the problem too.

Mind and mental events are concepts, mere postulations within the three realms of samsara Longchenpa .... A link to my Garden, Art and Foodie blog Scratch Living

My husband and I finished our Green Smoothie detox and we won't be going back to coffee. We feel so much more relaxed and happy now. Although my husband said he want's coffee on Sunday morning, so we had a cup today. Once a week he said. I feel fine with that, but I don't know if I will be having one cup a week. I don't like that jagged jittery feeling coffee gives me. Also I had a teaspoon of sugar in my coffee, cutting coffee will cut my intake of white sugar, which I hear isn't not good for the body either. It causes inflammation all over the body and may be one of the reasons why we get plaque build up in the arteries. The ten pounds I lost hasn't come back on and that is an awesome side effect. Next detox will be in four more months. I had a glass of homemade raspberry and rhubarb wine today as well....Yummy! Wine has a ton of sugar in it, so I won't be having too much wine or any other alcoholic beverage either! I grow most of my food and make all our food from scratch. I actually grind grain for bread and cookies. Once you start making food from scratch you become very aware of what you are putting in your body. I know how much sugar goes into wine because I put it there myself. Grinding grain manually is hard work, I don't overdue the bead anymore...hahaha!